What Brothers Know
by home-improvement42696
Summary: Brad and Mark never really got along until Mark gets depressed, he starts sharing secrets with Brad but soon, some of the secrets that he's sharing get severe so Brad wonders if he should tell his parents, even though he promised Mark he wouldn't.
1. Chapter 1: A Comforting Hand

**So this is my first fanfiction story, I wanted to start writing fanfiction for a while but never got to doing it so now I have finally decided to do it and I thought I'd start with my favourite show Home Improvement. I do not own any of the characters and what not in Home Improvement so I hope you enjoy the first chapter. **

It was 11:00 when Brad woke up, the sun was peering into his room. Brad looked at his alarm clock and sighed, he had been trying to wake up earlier, even on weekends, so that he can focus more on his studies in the morning and not have to be so tired. Brad got up and pulled on the cleanest clothes he could find in his dirty pile of clothes.

Brad came downstairs to find Jill working away on a report for work, Tim was outside talking to Wilson, and Mark was watching T.V.

"Hey mom," Brad said.

"Hey sweetie, did you have a good sleep?" Jill asked.

"I guess," Brad nodded, thinking back to a quite pleasant dream of him and his new girlfriend.

"Good, good, so your dad and I have an event to go to this evening, will you watch Mark?"

"He's 14, why can't he look after himself?" Brad asked, hoping he could get out of this. A friend of his was having a party and it was one he was really looking forward to.

"I'm sorry, honey, but your father is getting honored for his work on _"Tool Time," _Jill explained.

"Really? Since when did they give out awards for the most destructive host of a tool show?" Brad and Jill laughed as he walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Mark.

"Hey kid, what's new?" Brad asked, even though he didn't really care.

"Nothing," Mark said in a sad tone. For the past few weeks, Mark had feared that his girlfriend was going to break up with him; he was also not getting along with many other people at school, so lately he had been hanging around the house a lot. Brad decided not to respond and they sat there, watching T.V.

That evening, after saying goodbye to Tim and Jill, Brad picked up the phone to order a pizza.

"I'm ordering a pizza, want anything?" Brad asked to Mark who was still watching T.V.

"I'll get whatever you order."

"Alright," Brad said with glee, he took the advantage to order all his favorites, not taking into account what Mark may want.

"Okay, so the pizza should be here in a half hour, what do you want to do?" Brad asked Mark after he hung up the phone but then the phone rang again.

"Hello?" Brad answered, "Mark it's for you." Mark stood up for what seemed to be the first time that day and he took the phone from Brad.

"Hello? Oh hey Grace! Uh, what's going on? W-what? B-but everything was going so well…oh, I guess that's only my opinion. Well, uh, I guess then I'll see you, okay, okay, maybe I'll see you, okay, goodbye." Mark hung up the phone; he stood there for a moment. Brad was standing on the other end of the counter.

"So, she just broke up with you, huh?" Brad said.

"Yeah," Mark said, looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Brad.

"Well, it'll be all right, every guy gets dumped eventually, this was your first real relationship," Brad knew what he just said didn't sound too nice. Brad walked over to Mark and put his arm around him, leading him back over to the couch.

"But your relationships always work out so well, they always last a couple years, it's the same with Randy, my relationship only lasted two months, what am I doing wrong?" Mark said as tears started running down his eyes.

"You're not doing anything wrong; you're still quite young, you just got to be patient, the right girl will come," Brad explained. Mark was amazed at how nice his brother was being: "Maybe he does know what I'm going through," Mark thought.

"Wow, I've never seen you be so nice to me," Mark decided to say.

"Yeah well don't get used to it," Brad said, looking at the T.V.

A half hour later, the pizza arrived, Brad paid for it and came down to the sofa, a couple hours later, Tim and Jill came home. Jill walked silently into the kitchen and she saw Brad and Mark talking on the couch, but they were talking nicely. Jill walked back into the front entrance and whispered to Tim:

"Can you believe it? They're being nice to each other."

"Ooo, let's ground them, for a month at least," Tim whispered in a sarcastic voice.

"What I mean is I have never seen that side of Brad, you know, being nice to Mark," Jill whispered. Tim and Jill walked into the kitchen. "Hey guys, we're back," Jill said.

"Hey mom," Brad said as he got up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen. "I was just hanging out with Mark," Brad said, "His girlfriend dumped him," he whispered.

"Oh, really?" Tim said. "Hey buddy," Tim said to Mark, "You alright," Tim said as he walked over to the couch."

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mark said.

"Anything, you'd like to talk about?"

"No."

"Well if you ever need anyone to talk to, just talk to anyone of us," Tim said, pointing to himself, Jill, and Brad.

"Yeah, I know," Mark said in his same dull voice he had all evening. Tim walked back over to Jill and Brad with a worried look on his face, he didn't like how Mark was always depressed and it had been so long since he had seen his son smile.

"Brad, thanks for comforting him, it's nice to know that in situations like this, you're willing to put your differences aside to help your brother," Tim whispered. Tim then walked upstairs and Jill and Brad stared at each other.

"Well, I think I'll be going to bed," Brad said.

"Okay, goodnight," Jill said. Jill looked away from Brad as he left the kitchen; she looked at Mark, wondering if she should say anything. Mark turned off the T.V. and got up from the couch, he went downstairs to the room that he temporarily shared with Brad, without saying a word.

**I know it was a little short and I don't really like the ending to this chapter but the story will get better, believe me. So please review because I want to see how I did, the second chapter should be out in about a month.**


	2. Chapter 2: A New Beginning

The next day, Brad woke up at 10:30, he awoke to find Mark on the computer, Mark heard Brad shifting around in his bed so he looked at Brad.

"Morning", Mark said.

"Morning…so what's up?" Brad asked, he then realized it was a stupid question.

"Not much, just doing a report I have for school," Mark said.

"Cool," Brad said, without another word as he picked up some clothes and went to change in the closet. Meanwhile, Mark was being hesitant about if he should thank Brad for being so nice to him the night before, he didn't even know if he should bring it up. Brad came out from the closet and went upstairs, Mark decided to shut down the computer and went and followed Brad upstairs.

When Mark came upstairs, Brad was looking in the fridge for food while Tim and Jill were at the kitchen table where Tim was talking about what he'd be doing on Monday's Tool Time. His parents noticed his presence and asked Mark how he was doing. Mark engaged in the usual morning small talk he had with his parents. Instead of getting something to eat though, Mark sat at the table next to Tim.

"Mom, Dad, I was wondering if one of you could take me to the mall," Mark asked.

"Well, why not go with one of your friends?" Jill asked.

"Well they would probably be too bored," Mark replied.

"Why do you want to go to the mall?" Tim asked.

"I would like to buy some new clothes," Mark said. Based on Mark having just been dumped and him dressing in all black a year ago and even shaving his head after being dumped by a girl, the looks on Tim and Jill's faces would've said they were expecting Mark wanted to buy all black clothes again.

"Why don't we all go? I have to buy a present for Samantha for our anniversary," Brad said, finally looking away from the fridge.

"That's a good idea," Tim said and about an hour and a half later, the four of them were at the mall buying Mark clothes. Jill was relieved when Mark was looking at some red shirts; Mark noticed the sigh of relief:

"What's that about?" Mark asked.

"I'm just glad to know you're not depressed," Jill said.

"Okay," Mark said and looked away. Tim and Brad entered the store after buying Brad's gift.

"So, how's everything going here?" Tim asked.

"Fine," Mark said. Tim pulled Mark aside and asked the question again.

"Well, I appreciate mom looking out for me but she keeps getting a worried look on her face every time I pass a piece of dark clothing, and it's a bit annoying," Mark said. "But please don't say anything to her."

"Promise," Tim said. Mark and Tim met up with Jill and Brad on the other side of the store. Brad saw how Mark got mad when Tim asked to talk to Jill for a minute.

"So, found anything yet?" Brad asked.

"Nope, I was wondering, has mom ever been like this with you where she gets worried over the clothes you're going to pick in fear that you're going to become a goth?" Mark asked.

"Not at all," Brad said.

"Well, it's a little annoying, I'm not depressed, at least I don't think I am, I mean it was just a girl, I'll get over it," Mark said.

"I see you're using future tense," Brad pointed out.

"So?" Mark asked.

"You haven't gotten over Grace yet," Brad said.

"Well, yeah Brad she just dumped me last night, I really cared about her, I just don't know where I went wrong," Mark said.

"Well it's like what dad says, what man can understand a woman's mind," Brad said. Mark laughed and Tim and Jill came back. Jill started talking to Mark about how it hurts her when he's depressed and she wouldn't like to see Mark get depressed again. Mark than assured Tim, Jill, and Brad that he wasn't depressed and he wasn't going to be depressed. The four of them looked at a couple more stores before going home.

For the rest of the weekend, Mark couldn't get Grace out of his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about all the good moments he had with her. He had told Brad he would get over her soon but Mark actually didn't know when he would, it was his first girlfriend.

On Monday, Mark had started the day at school at a bad start, the first person he saw was Grace with her group of friends, they all looked at Mark, quickly looked away and started giggling. Mark ignored it and kept on walking. In his first period, Mark realized he hadn't finished the English report he had been doing on the weekend, his mind was too occupied, unfortunately the teacher, Mr. Rutherford, wanted an excuse and Mark had no good one. He thought about saying that his father was in the emergency room all weekend but Mark was one of Mr. Rutherford's least favourite students, mainly because of Tool Time, so Mr. Rutherford wouldn't care if he had gave that excuse.

"I don't have an excuse," Mark said, knowing he shouldn't have, Mr. Rutherford hated when students didn't have any excuse for not giving in homework.

"Well you're lucky that I'll give you until tomorrow, but in high school, they don't have any exceptions, if you hand in something late then your teacher will give you zero and you'll fail that subject and you'll have to retake that subject," Mr. Rutherford said, looking down at Mark with a stern glare. "I feel so bad for teachers who have to deal with students like you every year, most of the time they get students for two years, good luck Taylor." Mr. Rutherford walked back to his desk; Mark didn't understand why the teacher was giving him a lecture, this was only the second assignment this year that he hadn't had ready on time, in any class. The first one was six months ago, in October and now it was April. Mark heard guys in the back laughing at him, he managed to get through the rest of the period without embarrassment, for the most part of the day, he only saw Grace about five times, it seemed to Mark that she was showing up everywhere on purpose. Then last period, he went into his Math class to find Grace making out with Ronnie, who Mark was still friends with.

**Sorry I had lied to you guys in the last chapter, I said that I'd have this chapter up in a month, and here we are two months later. It's just that I need to work on motivating myself to write these chapters, but this time I swear I will right more often. But thanks for reading if you're still following this story, I tried to end it with a little bit of a cliffhanger (I know it wasn't much) and I think the mall scene was a little cheesy but I'm doing my best, please tell me what you think and if you have any ideas for future chapters or stories (for Home Improvement), I'd be happy to hear them.**


	3. Chapter 3: My Not So Great Friend

The few seconds Mark laid eyes on Grace and Ronnie making out seemed to last forever, Mark took a few steps out of the classroom. Since there were still a bunch of students in the hallways, Mark started walking as fast as he could away from the classroom, he had never skipped class, he didn't know where to go. He went to the boy's washroom and sat down on the toilet in one of the stalls. He just wanted to think about what to do, Ronnie knew he was going out with Grace, he never said he had feelings for her, but then again, why would he say anything about it?

"_Mark Taylor, report to Mrs. O'Neill's Mathematics class immediately," _a voice said over the intercom. If Mark wanted to sneak out, it would be even harder to do that now as the administration at the office knew he didn't show up to class, and they'd be on the lookout for him. Mark thought for a bit longer, he could go home, Brad had a spare last period on Monday's so he should be home by now. Mark then stood up and exited the washroom; he hurried to his locker where he tried to make as little noise as possible, taking out his backpack and his homework he'd need, after he was finished he snuck out the doors at the end of the hallway. It was sunny outside and it was about 63 degrees. Mark looked around for a bit, then decided to start running, it was about a twenty minute walk home, Mark was a fairly average runner, so it would take him between ten-fifteen minutes to get home at this pace. When Mark finally reached his house, he sat down to catch his breath as he hadn't stopped running the whole way home. He decided he didn't care about what Grace did in her spare time. The whole reason he wanted to go clothes shopping the other day was because he wanted to start the next school week off to a good start, like it was a new beginning. He found that he wouldn't care if it had been some other guy kissing her, but the fact it was his best friend, just made Mark mad.

Mark finally stood up and knocked on the door, a couple of minutes later Brad answered the door.

"What are you doing here? Don't you still have a half an hour of school left?" Brad asked.

"Yeah, it's just you'll never believed what happened," Mark said. Walking in to the house and putting his stuff on the kitchen table. Brad followed behind him. "So you know Ronnie, right?"

"Is he that creepy goth kid you're friends with?" Brad asked.

"Well he's not really goth anymore, but I saw him making out with Grace," Mark said.

"Your girlfriend," Brad said. Mark forgot how Brad had a hard time remembering names when it had anything to do with his social life.

"Yeah, anyways I saw the two of them making out in Math class," Mark said.

"Wow, nowadays you guys make out in class, what's our society turning into?" Brad joked.

"I'm serious Brad, I mean, Ronnie's my best friend, he knows how much I liked Grace before and while we were dating, I think what he's doing is inconsiderate and stupid," Mark said.

"Well, Mark…" Brad began saying.

"I mean, what kind of person does that? No one, exactly!" Mark said.

"Actually quite a few guys do…"

"He's doing this to get me mad, I just know it. Well I don't need him, I mean I only became friends with him last year because I needed a goth friend, but now neither of us are, so we don't need to be friends anymore," Mark said.

"Mark, at least he hadn't dated her while you two were dating," Brad said.

"We only broke up yesterday!" Mark said.

"I was just looking at the bright side," Brad said.

"There's no bright side in this, I'm going to have to get them back somehow" Mark said, he started to think of what he could do then, with a smile, he ran downstairs. Brad followed behind.

"Why are you smiling, what are you going to do?" Brad asked when he entered his and Mark's room.

"Just going to send Ronnie and Grace a heartwarming gift," Mark said.

"A heartwarming gift," Brad said, he didn't know why Mark would be sending a gift and he didn't know how he was going to send a gift over e-mail. Then Brad noticed what Mark was doing, he was looking at porn.

"Why are you looking at porn?" Brad asked as he walked up beside the computer, "Oh God! What the hell are those people doing?"

"I just searched creepy porn and clicked the first link I got; I'm going to send the link to Ronnie and Grace as a gift, Grace hates when guys look at porn so when she sees this on his computer she will freak out," Mark explained.

"But won't she notice that it's been sent from you?" Brad said.

"You take the fun out of everything, you know that? But wait, I know Ronnie's e-mail, I could simply put his e-mail address into the sending and the receiving box and then I won't have anything to do with it!" Mark said excitedly. Brad then realized that Mark never mentioned whether or not Ronnie and Grace saw him in class, he just mentioned seeing them, so anything Mark did to get even with them would just show as him being a jerk, but Brad didn't bother telling Mark. He went upstairs, Jill had just gotten home.

"Hey Brad, how was your day?" Jill asked.

"It was alright," Brad said.

"Any phone messages?" Jill asked as she reached for the phone. Brad hadn't checked the messages and now that he thought about it, the school probably called to see where Mark was, while he and Mark were downstairs.

"No, I don't think so," Brad lied.

"Wait, there's one message," Jill said to Brad. Brad waited, biting his lip, while Jill listened. Mark would think he told on him, then Mark would get mad at him, though to Brad's surprise, he didn't really want Mark to lose his trust in him. Jill's face slowly started to look stern; she hung up and looked at Brad.

"Did Mark come home early?" Jill said.

"No, I don't think so," Brad said.

"Really? Is he downstairs?" Jill asked. Brad thought about his answer for a few seconds.

"No, I don't think so," Brad said. Jill sighed and went downstairs, Brad decided that it would be best to go outside, Mark wouldn't think he told on him that way. Wilson was outside cooking on the barbeque, Brad guessed it was squirrel; Wilson cooked it at least once every week.

"Hey Wilson," Brad said.

"Hidey-ho Taylor-lad," Wilson said.

"Can I talk to you for a minute," Brad said.

"Of course," Wilson said.

"I've been put in a tough spot, see on Saturday, Mark's girlfriend broke up with him. Mark opened up to me after that and he seems to really trust me, but then he skipped the last class of the day today and the school called her, I had no choice but to tell mom that Mark has skipped school, but I don't want to tell on Mark, I actually find that I like having him trust me, and I just don't know what I should do," Brad explained.

"So you don't want to get in trouble with your parents but you want to keep that friendship you have with Mark," Wilson said.

"Exactly," Brad said. But before Wilson could say anything more, a car screeched out on the street, and a few seconds later Ronnie came walking through the bushes.

"That little son of a…" Ronnie whispered to himself.

"Hey! Ronnie! What do you want?" Brad interrupted.

"That idiot you call your brother sent me porn and Grace broke up with me," Ronnie said angrily.

"Grace and Mark broke up just two days ago, you had no business being a jerk and hurting your friend, and how did you know that e-mail was sent from him?" Brad asked.

"Please, you think Mark and I never searched that stuff up when we were all goth," Ronnie said. Brad looked at Ronnie, he thought that was disgusting. Ronnie then walked into the house and Brad went after him through the other door.

"What are you doing?" Ronnie asked. Ronnie and Brad looked at each other for a moment. Ronnie started running and Brad quickly jumped up and over the couch and pushed Ronnie to the ground. Tim entered through the garage door and Mark and Jill came up from downstairs.

"Brad!" Tim and Jill yelled at the same time. Brad let Ronnie go and they both got up. Ronnie pointed at Mark.

"You'll pay," Ronnie said to Mark and he left through the front door. Tim and Jill looked at Mark, and the three of them then looked at Brad.

"What was that about?" Tim asked.

"Ask Mark," Brad said and he went downstairs.

**Thanks again for reading; I know I didn't leave it off with that big of a cliffhanger, I tried to end it off at the right moment so I hope you like where I ended it, and please review.**


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